Nearly half of all Americans describe the news media as “very biased,” according to survey conducted in 2020 by Knight Foundation and Gallup. “That’s a bad thing for democracy,” says John Sands, director of learning and impact at the Knight Foundation. “When half of Americans have some sort of doubt about the veracity of the news they consume, it’s going to be impossible for our democracy to function.” The study …
Are We Profoundly Misinformed? It Must Be Someone Else’s Fault
Are we, the people, adrift in a sea of digital flotsam? Joseph Bernstein, a 2021 Nieman Fellow, has written a thought-provoking piece for Harper's. He believes we are profoundly misinformed about social media's role in keeping us misinformed. Bernstein points to a 2019 Pew survey, showing that half of Americans think that made-up news/info is “a very big problem in the country today,” about on par with the …
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How to Improve Your ‘Digital Body Language’ and Be Understood
Reading messages carefully is the new listening and writing clearly is the new empathy. Erica Dhawan is an internationally recognized leading authority, author, and advisor on 21st-century teamwork, collaboration, and innovation. Named by Thinkers50 as the “Oprah of Management Thinkers”, she is the author of two books Get Big Things Done: The Power of Connectional Intelligence and Digital Body Language. This week …
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Coca-Cola Reimagines 1956 Vending Machine for the Metaverse
Coca-Cola has created its first-ever NFT collectibles to commemorate International Friendship Day on July 30. All Coca-Cola proceeds from the four-day auction on digital marketplace OpenSea will go to Special Olympics International. The brand’s first digital collectibles—inspired by shared moments of friendship—were created in partnership with developer Tafi, the leading creator of custom 3D content for avatar and …
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Is This Seat Open? Tall Tales from the Southwest Airlines Vault
Companies are groupings of people; therefore, companies are often rich in story. Then there are companies led by mavericks, where stories flow like booze at an open bar holiday party. “Is This Seat Open?,” is a new podcast produced by L.A. Times Studios and At Will Media in partnership with Southwest Airlines. In celebration of Southwest’s 50th anniversary, the 20-episode audio series features first-hand stories …
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Banner Ads? Yes, Banner Ads.
Brands are buying banner ad space again, giving media companies a reason to rejoice. According to Ben Smith, media columnist for The New York Times, "several privately held publishers said their first-quarter ad revenue was up strikingly over the same quarter last year: Insider by more than 30 percent; Bloomberg Media was up 29 percent; Vice, 25 percent; Bustle Digital Group, more than 25 percent; and Axios’s …
Google and Budweiser Are Optimistic About Good Times Ahead. Are You?
If you watch cable news today, pessimists in front of their bookcases will remind you that the COVID-19 virus is mutating and ruthlessly seeking new ways to harm and kill people. You will also see overt shaming of every sort. Fox News shames "the woke left" for tainting capitalism with its soft hammers. CNN and MSNBC, on the other hand, are busy "investigating" why anyone would dare to leave their homes (and their …
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Retail Media Is the New Standard for Ad-Supported Media
Brand Marketing in the digital age has been an awkward paradox: you must win the trust and preference of consumers but activate behind a curtain of third-party cookies. To make matters worse, accountability has become lopsided. Brand teams are accountable for preference, consideration, trial, household penetration, customer loyalty, and sales lift (to name a few). Meanwhile, the media publishers financed by those …
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Know What’s Up in ’21: Read Wunderman Thompson’s New Future 100 Report
As a marketer, are you feeling cautiously optimistic about 2021? Can 2021 be a hopeful year of economic rebound and societal healing? Wunderman Thompson Intelligence, the agency’s futures think tank and innovation unit, believes so. Their findings are presented in the agency's annual Future 100 report, which helps lift the lid on trends that will shape the coming 12 months. Mel Edwards, Global CEO, Wunderman …
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Will Marketers Stop Funding Media Garbage Masquerading As News?
Faux News agreed to pay millions of dollars to the family of Seth Rich, the Democratic National Committee staff member who was murdered in Washington, D.C. in 2016. As part of the legal settlement, the details of the case were kept quiet until after the election and the resounding defeat of Don Trump. Ben Smith, media columnist at The New York Times has more: Why did Fox care about keeping the Rich settlement …
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Curtail The Tall Tales, Or Get The Hell Out of the Booth
Last week, a radio executive at Atlanta-based Cumulus Media sent a memo telling its talk show hosts to stop spreading rhetoric about a stolen election or face termination. “We need to help induce national calm NOW,” Brian Philips, executive vice president of content for Cumulus, wrote in an internal memo after a mob attacked the national Capitol building, first reported by Inside Music Media. The company …
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A 2020 Send Off That Sounds Off
Holiday greetings from ad agencies are typically boring affairs and they're easy to toss aside after a quick glance. Public Inc., a full-service social impact agency, decided that another holiday yawn would not do. So they left a mark. https://youtu.be/SWYnVepM8VM At this rate, 2020 is going to develop a complex. There were also good things that occurred in 2020. I think it's good to see the events of 2020 …
In Fight to Diminish Apple, Facebook Runs Attack Ads, Creates New Microsite
Facebook versus Apple. The battle of the tech titans is on. According to Facebook, "Apple announced product and policy changes that will impact data sharing across iOS. The policy and the limits it places on advertising will harm the growth of businesses and the free internet." Here's the interpretation of the above in a full-page print ad (that ran in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and …
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Like Real Campfires, Digital Campfires Are Meant to Illuminate
Lucky Post Helps Craft Launch Video Featuring Animation & Design To Inspire Change There's a new media project in town. New_Public, a media project seeks to build better digital public spaces. Edited by Vice Media and Wall Street Journal alum Marina Garcia-Vasquez, and backed by an editorial board of leaders in technology, media, and design, New_Public is a new hub for individuals imagining and building a more …
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Have You Made Someone Feel Like They Belong Today?
America is struggling through some rough and dark times. Millions of people are out of work, millions have COVID-19, and millions more are working more hours from home than they did at the office. Clearly, it is time to inject some 1960s idealism into the scene and the best way to do this is with song. Here, let some positive vibes and healing feelings come shining through... https://youtu.be/uvHINW3cxBs If …
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Productivity Is Highly Over-Rated, Particularly In Creative Circles
People are being asked to do more with less. In the ad agency industry, this has been going on since the first days of Digital Disruption. Today, with COVID-19 raging across the land and the globe, so-called "thought workers" who can work from home are doing so, but at what cost to themselves and the economy at large? While it is true that some people excel in a home office and everyone saves on commute …
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